Israel's Dog and Pony Show

Israel's Dog and Pony Show

I recently jumped at the chance to take an all expenses paid
helicopter ride over Israel and part of the West Bank.

The trip
was courtesy of The Israel Project (TIP) which describes itself as a
non-profit, non-partisan group working to impact world opinion for the
sake of Israel's security.

The helicopter ride is meant as an
"educational tour" for journalists and was inspired by George Bush, the
former US president, who took a similar ride and reportedly said it
opened his eyes to just how vulnerable Israel is.

The tour
operates twice a month and has taken up over 1,400 journalists.

We (AJE cameraman Brad McLennan and I) met our guide and fellow
journalists early in the morning, were bussed to an airport near Tel
Aviv, treated to breakfast, and (after a security check that happened
only to involve Brad and I and not the other two Israeli journalists)
were taken up on a civilian helicopter for 45 minutes.

In mid air, an information pack was given to each of us -- a neat
little 80-page handbook explaining why we were really here.

To
boil it down -- Israel, the argument goes, is small and under threat from
every side so the borders they have imposed are out of necessity not
choice.

Hence the name of the tour nicely laminated on the front
of the pack -- "Defencible Borders: Strategic Options for Israel's
Security".

Don't look down

Throughout the flight, our tour guide used a variety of maps,
statistics, pie charts, drawings and graphs to explain the reason for
the separation wall (deemed illegal by the International Court of
Justice).

We have all heard the reasoning that it prevents
terrorist attacks but what our guide was trying to explain was that it
has swallowed up Palestinian land only in areas which would have exposed
Israel and posed a security threat.

The wall has in fact taken 12 per cent of Palestinian land and
drastically changed the landscape of Jerusalem creating a de facto
border where Israel would like to see one and not where international
law deems one should be.

If we were looking down we would have
witnessed this reality, but instead most in the helicopter were busy
looking at the diagrams.

What is amazing is that in our 45-minute ride we managed to avoid
flying over any of the 120 illegal Jewish settlements that have been
built on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Not a word was said
by our guide about these settlements -- neither does it get a mention in
our info pack.

Below is a taster of what we did see -- the town of
Modi'in which sits next to the settlement of Modi'in Illit (which I
couldn't film because of the route we took).

The other argument made by our guide was that the separation wall
(which he points out will be six per cent concrete and 94 per
cent electronic wire fence when finished) was not a permanent
international border but rather a defensive one.

Plans, he said,
are being made for electronic key cards so that Palestinian farmers left
outside the wall can access their lands now on the "Israeli" side.

When
I asked our guide why Israel is making long-term plans for a border he
just finished telling us was only temporary, he answered "because one
day it will be permanent".

It's a simple strategy and one Israel
uses unapologetically -- creating facts on the ground they call temporary
(because in theory they are still negotiating over these facts) while
carrying out actions that would make a final settlement based on
anything other than what they have already created almost impossible.

The middle of the tour involved landing in the southern Israeli town
of Sderot. Here the guide explained how it was in fact Hamas that has
imposed the siege in Gaza, a point I challenged him on ...

The Israel Project do not hide their aim -- shaping media coverage of
the conflict. This is after all is a battle for land where the court of
public opinion matters.

To preserve Israel's interests (to
secure a Jewish state with borders of its choosing) an effort must be
made to explain and justify to the world the process by which that state
is being created.

But the changes happening come at the expense
of Palestinian statehood, and that is clear to see for all those who
choose to look down.

Further

Lord, what would John Lennon have made of the Trump monster? Marking Thursday's 36th anniversary of Lennon's murder, Yoko Ono posted a plea for gun control, calling his death "a hollowing experience" and pleading, "Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace." With so many seeking solace in these ugly times, mourns one fan, "Oh John, you really should be here." Lennon conceded then, and likely would now, "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."